October: PlanetCricket FM Monthly Challenge

[blake]

Welcome to the PlanetCricket FM Monthly Challenge of October. After Dr. Pepper and Burnsy took equal lead in the first challenge, The Battle of Moscow, the competition looks very interesting and hopefully we can get a good level of participation for this challenge.

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Challenge 2 - October: 'The French Revolution'

The France national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA.

France was one of the four European teams that participated at the inaugural World Cup in 1930. In the 1980s, led by midfielder and captain Michel Platini, the team reached semi-finals at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, and won the 1984 European Championship.

France then reached an even higher status in international football by being especially successful at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s; they won the World Cup as the host nation in 1998, and the European Football Championship two years later, while also placing second at the 2006 World Cup tournament. Midfielder and former captain Zin?dine Zidane was particularly instrumental in achieving those honours.

France and Argentina are the only national teams which have won the three most important men's titles organized by FIFA: the World Cup, the Confederations Cup, and the Olympic Tournament.

The Challenge

The French played superbly in the 2006 World Cup, reaching the final before bowing out to Italy. However, they have slipped to 11th in the World Rankings and it is your job as their international managers to take them back up to the top. Points are awarded on your results in the 2010 World Cup and the EURO 2012 tournament.

The Points

Win the 2010 World Cup: 125 points
Runner-up in 2010 World Cup: 80 points
3rd Place in 2010 World Cup: 50 points
4th Place in 2010 World Cup: 35 points
Eliminated in Quarter Finals in 2010 World Cup: 20 points

Win the 2012 EUROs: 100 points
Runner-up in 2012 EUROs: 70 points
3rd Place in 2012 EUROs: 50 points
4th Place in 2012 EUROs: 30 points

Every goal scored in 2010 World Cup: 1 point
Every goal scored in 2012 EURO: 1 point
Every goal conceded in 2010 World Cup: -1 point
Every goal conceded in 2012 EURO: -1 point

Fail to qualify for 2010 World Cup: -30 points
Fail to qualify for 2012 EURO: -30 points

Win every game in 2010 World Cup: 50 points
Win every game in 2012 EURO: 40 points

The Rules

Version: Preferably FM2009, but others will do
Database: Any

By all means share players, tactics and whatever else in here but please care to use spoilers for those who don't wish to know who's done well/bad etc.

Screenshots must be taken for every game in the 2010 World Cup and 2012 EUROs. Qualifying matches aren't important.

The Competitors (hopeful)

Feelin Blue
Shantanu Rooney
Treva
King Pietersen
Holdenator
07harrisb
Dr. Pepper
Hedger14
Cricket22

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Good luck to all.

The Standings After September

Pos.   User               Points
1.     Dr. Pepper          343
1.     Burnsy1             343
3.     Blake               187
4.     Feelin Blue?        96.5
5.     Maney2k9            24
6.     treva               5

 

[mattfb]

Sounds good. I just finished my two years at Liverpool and didn't get offered a new contract and because of only doing high leagues I probably wont get offered a job so I'll probably retire that manager and consider that a finished game which means I can concentrate on this

I'll be using FM 08 again though.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Ok then I will take part in this competition, I took part in the previous competition, but got bored laterdue to some stupid rule in the Russian League, I will complete this one as it looks quite interesting...

 

[mattfb]

France are ranked 4th in my game :S

 

[treva]

They won't be in FM2009. They have seriously slipped in real life.

Unsure whether to just load up one league on FM09 and try and get through it or take the safe route with FM08. I'm going to start it now. I'll give it a blast with 08, so Euro 2008 can be a good indicator of where we are.

 

[King Pietersen]

I'm in! I lost track with the last one, and got distracted by other games. But this'll be a nice challenge to get me in the mood for the FM10 release. I'll start it in abit (Y).

 

[mattfb]

I started mine but only managed to draw away with Slovakia 1-1.

For those using 08 can we use Euro 2008 instead of 2012?

 

[treva]

Lets say that if you don't reach 2012 you can use 2008, but you must try and get there even if you won Euro 2008 or did really well.

 

[mattfb]

Alright, fair enough.

 

[Ollie_H]

Now this is a challenge I'm up for! Allez Les Bleu!

 

[treva]

I may go with a completely inexperienced squad one I've qualified for Euro 2008. Build them up for the future. Will be a risk but could really pay off by 2010 and 2012.

 

[hedger_14]

Well my graphics card still doesn't work so we need the driver disk sent to us so it does work but I might try it with FM09 after that but I'm not sure how long that will be though.

 

[treva]

Selected myself an interesting squad for the Slovakia game:

Goalkeepers: Sebastian Frey, Hugo Lloris, Mickael Landreau.

Defenders: William Gallas, Philippe Mexes, Eric Abidal, Gael Clichy, Willy Sagnol, Mikael Silvestre, Lilian Thuram.

Midfielders: Hatem Ben Arfa, Lassana Diarra, Yoan Gourcoff, Sidney Govou, Younes Kaboul, Florent Malouda, Rio Mavuba, Samir Nasri, Franck Ribery, Adel Taarabt, Jeremy Toulalan, Patrick Vieira.

Forwards: Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema, Nicolas Anelka.

Most of the midfielders haven't got a cap, or at least not many. Players like Benzema, Taarbt, Nasri, Kaboul, Ben Arfa, Gourcoff and Lloris are the guys I hope to be playing every match by 2012.

treva added 2 Minutes and 49 Seconds later...

Benzema injured on the eve of the match. His replacement: David N'Gog!

treva added 11 Minutes and 53 Seconds later...

We drew 1-1 as they equalised late on but all in all a good performance. Hatem Ben Arfa was excellent in the first half and he scored the opener. David N'Gog played the full 90 as the lone man up top and had his first ever international goal disallowed for a foul on Skrtel. They then scored moments later.

 

[treva]

Pos   Team            Pts
1.    Italy           31
2.    France          27
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3.    Ukraine         24
4.    Scotland        21
5.    Lithuania       11
6.    Georgia         10
7.    Faroe Islands   0

Phew. That was tight. Had to make sure we didn't lose to Ukraine in the last game and thankfully we pulled out a 3-2 win.

Here's my results so far:

Drew 1-1 vs Slovakia
Lost 2-0 vs Italy
Lost 1-0 vs Scotland
Won 6-0 vs Faroe Islands
Won 2-0 vs Lithuania
Drew 0-0 vs Morocco
Won 3-2 vs Ukraine

Had some brilliant performances from my 'new' French squad. Will post how well my new players have done tomorrow,

 

[harrisb]

will have a look at this, is it ok if i use 08.